Tire valve



l' vApril 1, 1941.V

's."r. WILLIAMS A TIRE VALVE Filed March 2, 1939 INVENTOR .Patented Apr.1, 1941 TIRE VALVE Selden T. Williams, Bellerose, N. Y., assignor toScovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury,

Conn., acorporation of Connecticut Application March 2, 1939, Serial No.259,304

(c1. azi-42) lClaim.

My present invention relates to tire valves and aims to provide certainimprovements therein.

Almost all tire valves in use at present consist of a valve stem orcasing having therein a valve check mounted on a pin which extends tothe top of the casing for engagement with the dethe like before thevalve seat or check is mounted pressing pin of an iniiating chuck orpressureA v gauge. Such tire valves are customarily iitted with a valvecap to prevent ingress of moisture and foreign matter to the valve partsand for serving as a secondaryv air seal forl the valve check. To avoidthe-necessity of removing the cap every time vit is desired to inflate.deflate or gauge'the tire, it has been proposed to substitute for theconventional valve cap what is known as tire can be inflated, deated andgauged. These inflating caps, however, add substantially to the therein,thereby greatly facilitating and expediting the curing-on operation. Theinvention will be better understood from the detailed description whichfollows when considered in connectionwith the -accompanying drawingshowing several .embodiments of my invention, and wherein:

Figure 1 vis a longitudinal section embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a slight modification of my invention.

an'inating cap, that is, a cap through which the length of .the tirevalve and to the cost thereof. y

' It has also been proposed, in order to reduce the cost of the tirevalve, to make the valve stems or casings substantially entirely ofrubber and to integrally form therein a valve seat for the check valve.Owing, however, to the desirability v of having the rubber valve seatand the rubber 'valve stem of different rubber compositions be cause ofthe diierent functional characteristics of said parts, and becausefurther of the desirability of having the valve check parts replaceable,the rubber valve stem with an integral rubber seat has not as yet wonthe favor of the tire manufacturers.

It is an object of the present invention to p rovide a tire valve whichwill have the features of an inflating cap without materially adding tothe length of the tire valve stem and whichwill emenumerated areaccomplished by providing in a tire valve a separate replaceablerubbervalve seat vwhich is independent of the valve check and embodyingthe valve checkin a cap-like member which serves the dual function ofholding the valve seat within the casing and of providing a closure forthe tire' valve through which the tire can be inflated, deflated andgauged.. My valve construction has the further-"advantage thatthe valvecasing can4 be cured onto an inner tube or Fig. 3 is a sideelevation'with Aparts broken away showing the application of myinvention to a double bent valve stem.

Fig. 4 is a composite` view of the constituent 1 parts constituting theessence of my invention.

Referring rst to Fig. 4, the invention may be said to consist of a valvecap member I0, a spring pressed valve check II, and a compressible valveseat member I2.

The valve seat member I2 preferably consists of a tubular sleeve ofrubber or other'compressible material I3, having a substantiallycylindrical outer wall of a diameter to snugly iit within the bore of atire valve stem or casing I4, which latter may be of any preferredconstruction, for example as shown inFig. 1 where Vit is in the form ofa tubular sleeve housed within a rubber casing I5, having a base iiangeIB adapted to be vulcanized to the erterior of an inflated body such asa pneumatic tire tube or the like (not shown), the casing Il beingexternally screwthreaded at itsputer end Gto receive the valve cap Il.The rubber sleeve I3, at, its top or outer end, isformed with a radialflange l1 which is adapted to seat on a shoulder or on the top or 'touter end of the casing Il. The sleeve I3 has a bore therethrough ofdierent diameters, namely, Il. I9, 20 and 2|, for purposes which willpresently appear. Between the boreslfand 2l there is a flat shoulder 22vwhich constitutes the valve seat proper of the tire valve'and faces inthe direction of the `inner end of the tire valve casing.

The spring pressed valve check II consists of a valve pin 23 formed atone end with an enlarged bulbous or pear-shaped head 24 whichconstitutes the valve check proper. Loosely mounted on the valve pin isa spring seat 25 having a radial flange adapted to overlie the flangeI'I onthe rubber sleeve, and a tubular portion adapted to seat withinthe bores Il and!! of said sleeve. The pin 2l, at its outer end, isslightly reduced in diameter and has non-removably mounted thereon V anenlarged head' or button 2t, and disposed aboutl said pin between saidbutton 26 and the spring seat 25 is a coil spring 21.

The valve cap member III has an internally screw-threaded lower portion28 to-engage the threads of the tire valve casing, and a reduced upperportion 29 having annular recesses 30 in its wall for engagement by asnap-on type of inilating chuck. The top of the cap has a centralopening 3l therethrough of a diameter but slightly larger than that ofthe button 26 and is adapted to receive said button to provide asubstantial closure for the cap and guide the valve check onto its seat.Between the portions 28 and 29 of the cap there vis formed a iiatshoulder 32 which is adapted, in the course of screwing the cap onto thevalve stem, to engage the ange of the spring seat 25 to hold said springseat within the rubber sleeve I3 and compress the flange I1 of saidsleeve into leak-tight engagement with the outer end of the valve casingIl.

In the application of my invention to a tire valve stem or casing, suchas Il, the bulbous or pear-shaped head 24 constituting the valve checkproper is forced through the bore 20 of the valve seat member into thebore 2| holding down on the button 26 during the insertion, whereuponthe valve check will be held by the force of the spring 21 against thenat shoulder or valve seat 22. The rubber sleeve I3 is then insertedinto the outer end of the casing. The cap I is then screwed onto thevalve stem in the course of which the shoulder 32 will engage the angeof the spring seat and in turn force the flange I1 of the rubber sleeveinto leak-tight engagement with the end of the valve stem. Thecompressive action upon the flange I1 will act as a sort of locknut tohold the valve cap in attached relation to the tire valve casing.

When the tire valve is thus assembled, the outward pressure of thebulbous portion of the valve check 24 against the valve seat, due to thetension of the spring 21 and the air pressure within the tire, willexert a radial pressure upon said tubular sleeve which will tend toprevent leakage between the sleeve and the casing and an axial pressurebetween the sleeve and the spring seat 25 which will augment thistendencytoprevent leakage. The tubular portion of the spring seat 25,seating within the rubber sleeve I3, will reinforce the latter andprevent withdrawal of the valve check through the spring seat when theparts are in assembled relation.

A tire valve constructed in accordance with the foregoing it .will beappreciated has the advantage oi one wherein the maximum length o! thestem can be reduced to a minimum. wherein thetirecanbeinateddeilatedandgaugedthrough the without the need of asupplemental closure cap, and wherein the cost of the tire valveasawholeissubstantiallyreduoedbytheelimination of the conventionalmetallic valve seat and screw-threaded plug for said seatwithinthevalvecasing. Slddtirevalvealsohastheadvantageovertheso-caliedrubbervalvestemshavinganintegralvslveseatinthat should the valve seat or valvecheek prove defective, saidpartscanberemovedandreplacedwithhutlittlecostandtheofbutlittle time and without the of stripping theentire valve stem olf the tube.

In Fig. 2 of thedrawing atypeof valve constructionquitesimilartothxthereinbeforedescribedisdisclosed,thesaidprimar ilydiiering from that shown in Fig. l in that instead of the valve capmember being removably mounted on the casing, the cap in this latterconstruction is semi-permanently attached tothe casing. In this form ofthe invention the valve casing 33 is in the form of a drawn hollow shellwhich may be readily vulcanized within a rubber casing 3l, the saidshell having a suitable shoulder 35 for limiting the inward position oithe rubber sleeve I3' into the casing. The casing has a second shoulder36 for receiving the inner end of the valve cap 31 in the course ofassembling the parts which may be semi-permanently united together byturning or spinning the free end 3l of the casing over a shoulder on thevalve cap.

While the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 2 does not possessthe characteristic of having the valve parts readily removable andreplaceable, it does possess the advantage of greater cheapness inproduction cost and replaceability with special tools as can beunderstood by one versed in the art.

In Fig. 3 of the drawing the invention is shown as applied to a doublebent valve stem 39, the base flange 40 oi which is embedded in a rubberpatch Il adapted for direct attachment toapneumatic tube. The form oftire valve which may be used with such bent valve stem may correspond toeither of the embodiments shown in Figs. l and 2 depending upon whetheror `not the valve parts are to be readily replaceable.

While I have shown and described several em bodiments of my invention,itis to be understood that I do not (wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction disclosed since these may be varied within therangeof engineering skill without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

What I claim is:

A tire valve comprising a rigid casing having a bore therethrough, acompressible tubular sleeve within said casing and snugly fitting withinsaid bore,'said sleeve having bores of diil'erent diameters forming ashoulder which constitutes the valve seat proper and faces toward thebase of 'the casing, a non-deformable valve check of larger diameterthan the bore of smallestdiameter through the seat member forcooperation therewith insertable into said seat member through the borelof smallest diameter prior to insertion of the seat member within saidcasing, said valve check being mounted on a pin having an enlargementthereon in spaced relation to the valve check, a. spring seat looselymounted on said pin and having a part engageable within the sleeve abovethe seat proper to limit the expansionthereof .and prevent thewithdrawal of the valve check through the sleeve and provide an annularrecess within said spring seat, a spring mounted on the valve pin andbearing at one end against the enlargement on said' p ih and at itsother end seating within the annular recess in the spring seat andnornially tending'w hold the valve seated, and a cap member attached tothe casingandhavingapartbeartnggainstthe spring seat for holding it inengagement with the valve seat member, said cap having acentralopeninginitstopthroughwhichtheenlargement on the valve pin mayproject and be gmdedtocenterthevalvecheckonitsseatand provide asubstantial closure forthe cap when the valve is seated. SELDEN T.WILLIAMS.

